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Zashlun
In the Imperium, the mutant is something to be shunned and abhorred. The most militant and Puritan factions of Imperial doctrine demand mutants be slain on sight. More merciful Imperial agents merely push for their enslavement as a second class work force, so they can excise the sin of their twisted bodies by labor to the God-Emperor. Some mutants are not properly grateful for this chance for absolution, however, and when they rise up against their masters, the resulting rebellions are some of the most brutal and violent wars in the Imperium. Zashlun is a product of one of those uprisings: the wars on the hive world of Tranch. The vast mutant labor force on that world was inspired to rebellion by a secret cabal of mutants known as the Shroud Masters. These leaders organized the oppressed mutants into a terrifying force of rebellion known as the Pale Throng. Zashlun was little more than a child labourer in Tranch’s Soot Warrens when the rebellion began, but she joined the rebellion wholeheartedly. She quickly rose through the ranks, and was newly inducted into the Pale Throng when the war began to go against them. Despite ever-mounting losses, the Imperium poured more men and materials into suppressing the rebellion, drowning the Pale Throng in an inexhaustible tide of war. At the same time, agents of the Inquisition used cats-paws and double agents to divide the Shroud Masters and convince them to tear themselves apart in vicious infighting. Few of the Shroud Masters survived the resulting bloodbath, but Zashlun was one of them, escaping off-planet in a transport commandeered by her loyal followers. In the time since then, Zashlun’s hatred of humanity and her zeal to help her oppressed brethren has only increased. She has travelled the many worlds in the Calixis Sector, sowing rebellion and discord amongst the mutant underclass. She dreams of a time where the humans of the Calixis Sector are put to the pyre that her kind has suffered for too long, and mutants rule triumphant in their place. Zashlun’s primary goal is to recreate the Tranch Rebellion on one of the Calixis Sector’s primary worlds, such as Malfi, Solomon, or even Scintilla. The Tranch Rebellion left her home world a gutted shell, and she wants to see that happen to the Imperium’s seats of power beyond all else. Zashlun’s tactics rely on the mutant under-classes of the worlds she subverts, therefore she usually operates on hive worlds (where mutants exist in great numbers). With her powerful oration and stirring rhetoric, she can usually convince a sizeable portion of the mutant population to follow her. Once she has their support, she begins training cells of activists, saboteurs, and fighters. For practice, she authorizes small attacks against enforcer stations, minor officials, or public spaces. Once her cadres are trained, she begins her rebellion with overwhelming assaults on prominent Imperial targets, Arbites precinct houses, Ecclesiarchy cathedrals, PDF barracks, and the hive spires of Imperial nobility. These attacks are as widespread as possible, to prevent her opposition from concentrating their defense. Her hope is that if she completely overwhelms her enemies quickly, she can consolidate her own defences before the Imperium mobilizes. Thus, the first 24 hours of her rebellion are the most crucial, and easiest for her enemies to disrupt. Zashlun’s love for her fellow mutants is only matched by her hatred of humanity, and she does all in her power to protect her brethren. This can prove to be her undoing, however, as canny Throne Agents may attack the mutant population directly in order to lure her into a trap. When Zashlun fights, she is always accompanied by several bodyguards (2d5 Twist Hulks armed with chain-axes). She is unafraid of throwing herself into the fray, but attempts to stay alive if at all possible, even retreating if things look dire. Zashlun’s experiences on Tranch have given her a healthy fear and respect of the Inquisition. If she learns Throne Agents are looking for her before she begins her rebellion, she is perfectly willing to cease her work and vanish, travelling to another world to begin anew.